State nod for school detention return

TT, Calcutta, Oct. 24: The Bengal government has accepted the Centre's proposal of revoking the policy of automatic promotions till Class VIII and informed the Union human resource development ministry that it is in favour of detaining students based on their performance.

A senior official in the Bengal school education department said minister Partha Chatterjee has written to HRD minister Smriti Irani, informing her of the Bengal government's stand on reintroducing the system of detaining students.

"The Bengal government is in favour of abolishing the no-detention policy. This has been conveyed to the Union HRD ministry," the official said.

Students across boards are now awarded grades till Class VIII and promoted even if they fail to clear exams.

The HRD ministry had asked the state government verbally about its opinion on revoking the no-detention policy before seeking its official stand in a letter sent a few days ago. The Centre had sent similar letters to 20 other states. All the states have supported the Centre's decision to reintroduce the pass-fail system till Class VIII.

On a recent trip to Calcutta to take stock of the education scenario in Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, Smriti had said she had received the verbal opinion of the Bengal government on the no-detention issue.

The minister had said the Centre would take a call after seeking the opinion of academics, schools and child psychologists besides the state governments.

The no-detention policy came into effect in 2010 to ensure that every child between six and 14 attended school and did not drop out for fear of being held back. "No child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled till completion of elementary education," a clause in the Right to Education Act says.

But sources said the NDA government wants to reintroduce the system of performance-based promotions after it was found that a section of students tended to neglect their studies because of the no-detention policy.

That also made it difficult for such students to cope with the pressure in Classes IX and X, the sources said.